More than 70% of abortions at Glenwood Springs' Planned Parenthood clinic are administered using medication — specifically mifepristone in combination with misoprostol.
But a new mandate from the federal government directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to review the regulations around mifepristone could jeopardize the main way patients can access an abortion.
The directive comes after newly appointed FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency has "no current plans" to restrict mifepristone, but added that the FDA may act on "new data." Just days later, a report surfaced questioning the safety of mifepristone, which the FDA approved in 2000.
The report was published by the Ethics & Public Policy Center (EPPC), a religion-centered think tank, that says its priorities include "pushing back against the extreme progressive agenda while building a consensus for conservatives."
It found that mifepristone leads to serious complications in more than 10% of cases. Independent reproductive health experts pointed out that the report has not been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.
Dr. Kristina Tocce, the Chief Medical Officer for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, noted that mifepristone has been used safely by over 5 million patients in the U.S. since it was approved 25 years ago. The FDA's own data indicates serious complications from taking mifepristone occur in fewer than 1% of cases.
Tocce and other experts say the report's methodology is flawed. More than half of the study's alleged adverse events, for instance, are vague, undefined, or unrelated to the medication. It also counts all emergency room visits as serious complications, which Tocce pointed out is scientifically too broad a parameter to render any meaningful results.
"If you just count every emergency room visit — as opposed to looking at the actual treatment rendered — you don't know what actually transpired and if there was a complication or not," said Tocce.
Still, the report's authors billed it as the "largest-ever study" on abortion medication and anti-choice politicians have seized on its findings. Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana said in a statement: "This recent study is proof that pro-abortion advocates care more about promoting their radical agenda than they do about women's health."
Now, Tocce and other health care providers are worried that the study could lead the FDA to place new restrictions on mifepristone, drastically reducing access to abortion — even in pro-choice states like Colorado.
Telehealth has increased abortion access especially for rural patients
The rise of telehealth since the pandemic has allowed for much greater access to abortions by allowing doctors to prescribe mifepristone via a telemedicine appointment. Tocce said that's particularly true for patients in remote areas, like large swaths of Colorado's Western Slope.
"In non-urban areas, they [patients] often have limited access to in-clinic care and medication abortion can be the most accessible," she said. "Sometimes it might be the only option that they're able to access without having to travel great distances and incur a lot of additional costs."
For reproductive rights advocates, the study is part of a broader story: the increase in coordinated disinformation campaigns in health care, especially reproductive and gender-affirming care. Most recently, the Trump administration issued a "best practices" report promoting conversion therapy for transgender youth. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has said that evidence shows conversion therapies lack scientific credibility and inflict harm on young people, including elevated rates of suicide.
When Tocce began practicing medicine a little over 20 years ago, mifepristone had just been approved and was still in its infancy. She watched as study after study demonstrating the efficacy and safety of mifepristone were published. It was such an encouraging time in reproductive health, she said, to be able to offer women a more accessible option for abortion care.
"It's stunning to me to even hypothesize that a report like this could undermine everything that has occurred in the last 20 years."
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